- Online application
- Not available
- Fax from outside the U.S.
- 304-707-9471
- International phone line
- 267-941-1099
- By mail
- 4 weeks
The assistant requires the responsible party to hold an SSN or ITIN
855-215-1627 if you are faxing from within the United States
6:00 to 23:00 Eastern, Monday to Friday. Not toll free
IRS, EIN International Operation, Cincinnati, OH 45999
Why the fast route is closed
The IRS online EIN assistant issues a number at the end of a single session, which is where every same-day promise on the internet comes from. It also requires the responsible party to hold a Social Security Number or an ITIN. If you have neither, the application cannot be completed online, no matter who is offering to do it for you.
Anyone guaranteeing a same-day EIN for a foreign responsible party is either describing an outcome they do not control, or planning to put somebody else's SSN on line 7b. The second is worse than the first. Treat either as information about the rest of their process.
What follows is the route that does work, in the order it works in.
The three routes that are open to you
Form SS-4 is the application in every case. Without an SSN or ITIN it reaches the IRS by fax, by mail, or by telephone through the line that exists specifically for international applicants.
- Fax, to 304-707-9471 from outside the United States, or 855-215-1627 from within it. The line runs 24 hours a day. Give a return fax number on the form, because that is how the EIN comes back.
- Mail, to Internal Revenue Service, Attn: EIN International Operation, Cincinnati, OH 45999. Reliable, and the slowest of the three.
- Telephone, on 267-941-1099, 6:00 to 23:00 Eastern time, Monday to Friday. It is not a toll free number, and the person on the call has to be the responsible party or hold a signed authorisation to act for the entity.
How long it really takes
The instructions say a faxed application with a return fax number should come back within four business days, and that a mailed one takes about four weeks. Those are the published times and they are the right thing to plan against.
They are also a floor rather than an average. International applications go through a single unit, that unit has a queue, and the queue moves with the season. We plan client work on the published four days and warn people that two or three weeks happens often enough that no schedule should depend on the short answer.
The reason this matters is sequencing rather than patience. Bank onboarding needs the EIN, so an EIN that lands in week three is an account that opens in week five. Start the SS-4 the day the formation is effective, not the day you need the account.
A realistic first eight weeks
A non-resident forming a single-member LLC and opening a U.S. business account. Working days, assuming nothing is rejected and no document has to be reissued. Every span here is a range because two of the three parties involved publish times rather than commitments.
- Week 0
- State filing submitted, formation effective
- Week 0 to 1
- Certified formation documents issued by the state
- Week 1
- SS-4 signed and faxed to the international line
- Week 1 to 4
- EIN issued and faxed back
- Week 4
- Bank application submitted with the EIN and the CP 575
- Week 4 to 7
- Bank review, identity verification, account opened
Six to seven weeks from filing to a working account, with the EIN sitting in the middle of it as the step nobody can accelerate. Any plan that assumes two weeks is a plan that will slip.
Line 7b, and the answer that trips everyone
Line 7a asks for the responsible party and line 7b asks for that person's SSN, ITIN or EIN. If the responsible party does not have one and is not eligible to obtain one, the instructions tell you to enter Foreign on line 7b.
That is the whole answer, and it is worth saying plainly because it is the single most common reason we see an application abandoned. The box is not optional and it is not a blocker. It has a designated answer.
Do not put somebody else's number there instead. The responsible party is who the IRS will write to for the life of the entity, and a name on line 7a that does not match your ownership documents will surface later, usually at the bank, usually at the worst moment.
Who the responsible party actually is
The responsible party is the individual who controls, manages or directs the entity and the disposition of its funds and assets. For a single-member LLC that is normally the owner. For a corporation it is normally a principal officer.
It must be a natural person, not a holding company. Entities appear on that line only in narrow cases that do not apply to a founder forming their first U.S. company.
Getting this wrong is not a formatting error. It decides who the IRS treats as able to speak for the entity, and correcting it later means a separate written notification rather than an edit.
What to have ready before you apply
Assembling this first removes most of the back and forth, and most of the rejections.
- The exact legal name of the entity, matching the formation documents character for character, including the LLC or Inc suffix.
- The state of formation and the effective date.
- A U.S. business address for the entity, and a mailing address if it differs.
- The responsible party's full legal name as it appears on their passport, and their foreign address.
- The entity type, the reason for applying, and a short honest description of the expected activity.
- A return fax number, if you are faxing. Leaving it blank turns a four day answer into a four week one.
- A signature from the responsible party, or a completed third party designee section if someone is applying on your behalf.
When it arrives, and what to keep
The confirmation is a notice called the CP 575. Banks, payment processors and marketplaces all ask for it, and it is issued once. Save it somewhere you will still have it in three years.
If it is lost, the replacement is Letter 147C, requested from the IRS business line. Eligible users can now also download a digital CP 575 from a Business Tax Account, which is accepted in the same places as the original.
Check the notice against your formation documents the day it arrives. A misspelled entity name on an EIN is fixable, and it is fixable far more cheaply before an account has been opened in it.
The mistakes that cost weeks
Every one of these has cost a client a month at some point, and all of them are avoidable in the ten minutes before the form goes out.
- Applying before the state has actually formed the entity, so the name on the SS-4 does not yet exist.
- Leaving line 7b blank instead of writing Foreign.
- Naming a parent company as the responsible party rather than a person.
- Faxing without a return fax number, then waiting for a letter that takes a month.
- Applying twice because the first attempt went quiet, and ending up with two EINs for one entity.
- A name on the SS-4 that differs from the formation certificate by a comma, a period or a suffix, which the bank will find even if the IRS does not.
Before you act on this
This is general information, not advice for your particular situation. Thresholds, forms and deadlines change, several of the rules described here differ by state and by the year in question, and the figures above were checked on the date at the top of this page rather than today. Confirm the current position before you rely on any of it.
If you want the version that applies to your entity specifically, send us the details and we will tell you what you actually owe and when.